


Mind the Gap

by rebel_raven



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alfredo is just tired of everyone being dumb, Angst, Blood, Concussions, Cuddling, Description of wounds, Explosions, F/M, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Found Family, Gavin is a badass, Gavin's got the highest kill count, Geoff is the Pilot, Happy Ending, Jack is the King pin, Jack is very good at calming people down, Jeremy and Gavin are secretly married, Jeremy is the honey pot, Lindsay is a street racer, M/M, Matt and Fiona are a terrifying hacker team, Mature warning for all the swearing and blood, Mentions of Assassinations, Mentions of Violent Escapes, Mentions of past consenting sexual acts, Mentions of past fighting rings, Michael is Rimmy Tim, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings of the comedic kind, No graphic wounds, Original Characters - Freeform, Past grevious injury, Past secret agent Jeremy Dooley, RT Writing Community, RT Writing Community Springfairy, Recovery, Role Swap, Role swapped crew, Sarah Weems is an absolute badass, Tenderness, Threats of Violence, Threats of torture, Worry, almost panic attacks, fluff and comfort, mentions of torture, shennanigans, there is a happy ending i promise, there's a lot of blood mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:49:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23997814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_raven/pseuds/rebel_raven
Summary: It took a long time for Gavin to feel comfortable with the idea that he wouldn't have to look over his shoulder, that he could be happy with his husband and not have to worry about having that happiness ripped away. He found that reassurance with the Fakes and their steadfast acceptance of him and Ryan, even though they had yet to realize that they were married. It's not even like he and Jeremy try to hide it, but, well, no one said that all of their family was smart in the ways of the heart - Trevor and Matt did serve as witnesses to their court wedding. However, when a threat the couple thought had been long laid to rest reemerges, Gavin suddenly remembers what it's like to have to fight for what he loves.
Relationships: Geoff Ramsey/Jack Patillo, Jeremy Dooley/Gavin Free, Michael Jones/Lindsay Jones, Trevor Collins/Alfredo Diaz
Comments: 7
Kudos: 47





	Mind the Gap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadeOfAzmeinya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeOfAzmeinya/gifts).



> An RT writing community springfairy for Shadeofazemeiya! This was a really really fun piece to write! I had so many good prompts but I went with my favorite. "Any instances of characters patching each other after fights/scraps, softly giving reassurances that they’re there and that they’ll be ok. Kisses over bandages or forehead kisses are a must."  
> I went a little overboard to get to the actual prompt, but I had to write soft role swapped husbands, my brain wouldn't let me rest until I had written them being soft and protective.  
> Thank you so much for such amazing prompts, I hope you enjoy this! 
> 
> -RR

“You’re being a little bitch,” Michael said without preamble, plopping himself down next to Gavin.    
  
“Hello to you too, boi,” Gavin snorted, barely looking up from his phone.   


He wasn’t in the mood for Michael’s so called “pep talks”, or at least the variety where Michael thought that pushing his buttons would get any sort of reaction out of him. No matter how much he loved him, Michael knew how to get under his skin the best. It was infuriating to say the least. Michael stared at the side of his head, practically trying to burn a hole through his skull but Gavin refused to give him the satisfaction. His lips curled up in amusement as Michael groaned and flopped backwards.    
  
“You’re pining and it’s gross,”    
  
“Pining?” Gavin asked, voice rising. “Over whom would I pine?! I don't pine!"    
  
Michael just rolled his head to look at him and raised an eyebrow. “Over Jeremy. You’re fucking  _ whipped  _ dude.”    
  
“Am not,” Gavin huffed, flipping Michael off with a half hearted glare. “If anyone is whipped, it’s you boi. You’re so gone on Lindsay it’s almost nauseating.”    
  
“Yeah, well she’s my wife. I’m  _ allowed _ to be nauseating. You on the other hand? Fucking disgusting.”    
  
Gavin rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the giggle that jumped in his throat. Michael wasn’t wrong, nor was he even really angry. He could hear it in the softer tones of his voice, the way his eyes shone with mischief and he was seconds from likely tackling Gavin and forcing them into a wrestling match that would end in more than a handful of bruises. He opened his mouth to respond when a noise distracted them both and they turned to the source.   


Jeremy and Trevor came stumbling in through the front door, the pair of them laughing like they were drunk, hanging off of each other like there was no way they’d be able to stand without the other. Both of them were a little sooty, which was mildly alarming but not enough for Gavin to get off the couch just yet. He took quick but careful stock of Jeremy; his skin flecked with ash and streaked with dirt but no blood. His work clothes, a dark blue button down that had the top three buttons undone, black skinny jeans and a pair of heavy black boots, were all filthy. But no blood. Gavin immediately searched Jeremy’s face, scanning for any bruises or scratches, but there was nothing.    
  
Gavin’s gaze quickly jumped to Trevor before Michael could kick his leg and silently accuse him of pining once more. The demolitions man was arguably the dirtier of the pair; his leather jacket was more grey than green, and his jeans, which had once been blue Gavin was pretty sure, were more brown and grey, and his shoes were a lost cause, given they weren’t even on his feet. His shirt just seemed to be a little muddy, though, and there were also no holes or tears in his clothes. He looked much the same as he had when he left as well, just with a fine layer of ash and soot coating his thick black hair and sticking to his skin than Gavin would think was healthy.    
  
‘ _ Fuck they better not have breathed anything in, _ ’ came the distant thought before he was standing as they stumbled, giggling madly.    
  
“Oh, hey Gav,” Trevor rasped, smiling a touch too wide at him, eyes not quite focusing.    
  
“Hey, Treh, Lil J.” Gavin said easily, quickly making his way over to them. “What the fuck did you two sausages get up to?”    
  
“We made a huge explosion!” Jeremy yelled, grin manic. “It was  _ awesome-!”   
_

“Lil J!” Michael yelled, making the shorter man turn towards him, still smiling. “You don’t have to yell!”    
  
“I’m not!” he said, affronted, still yelling.    
  
“Call Sarah,” Gavin sighed, staring at the pair and shaking his head. “And Jack. She’ll wanna know.”    
  
“She and Geoff are on their date night, dude.” Michael reminded him and Gavin hummed.    
  
“Right. Bugger.”    
  
Jack and Geoff had Date Night once a month, which was honored by no one interrupting them aside from an absolute emergency.   
  
“I’ll get Sarah.” Michael sighed, shaking his head. “Linds and the others will be back soon enough regardless, and Fredo will fret over Treh enough to maybe make him remember to take care of himself.”    
  
“Fredo’s here?” Trevor asked, lowering his voice just a little, looking around.    
  
Gavin giggled, he couldn’t help it. Trevor and Alfredo were as stupidly in love with each other as two people could be. Even if they apparently hadn’t told the other. Gavin and Michael got treated to more than a handful of Trevor’s gushing of the other man on Lad’s Night, and Gavin was treated to much the same whenever he and Alfredo were put on jobs together, which was at least once a week, if not more. It had gotten to the point Gavin was starting to wonder if he should just lock them both in a room and throw away the key. He wouldn’t, but he was sorely tempted.    
  
“Come on you two,” he grunted, catching Jeremy as the shorter man stumbled once more. “Michael boi, help?”    
  
“Oh shit, yeah,” Michael stuffed his phone back in his pocket and quickly made his way to the front door, wrapping one arm around Trevor’s waist and pulling his arm over his shoulders. “Come on dude, let’s go lie down in your room while we wait for whatever the fuck you did to wear off.”    
  
“I’m not drunk, Michael!” Jeremy yelled, though he was grinning like he were, giggling. “It was so fuckin rad though. You should have seen it! They tried to cheat us out and then shit got shooty and then they ended up blowing the tanks and I chucked a grenade too, so there’s that,”    
  
“It was fun,” Trevor laughed. “Chaos Crew wins again!”    
  
Gavin stifled his laugh and shook his head, coaxing Jeremy away from the wall, wrapping an arm around his waist and held him upright effortlessly. He sagged into Gavin’s side but he did try and help by keeping his feet underneath himself. They weren’t too far in height, though Jeremy was broader and was layered in functional muscle and a soft layer of pudge at his thighs and stomach. It wasn’t hard to move him when Gavin needed to, but it was still annoying.    
  
“Come on, you silly sausage,” Gavin murmured, steadfastly ignoring the gentle whine that rose from Jeremy’s throat as he ducked his head and nosed at Gavin’s chest. “Did you get concussed, Jeremy?”    
  
“Nope,” he mumbled, smiling, remembering to tone down his voice. “Just a little dizzy,”    
  
“That isn’t helping the whole, “I’m not concussed,” thing, Jeremy. Jeremy, are you lying to me, Jeremy?”    
  
“No, I swear, Gav, not lying,”    
  
Gavin huffed in mild annoyance but didn’t try and force the issue. He’d know soon enough.    
  
“Right, we’ll sort this out.” He muttered to himself, guiding Jeremy to the guest bedroom.    
  
None of them had lived long term at the penthouse for a long time, but sometimes it was nice to come back and spend a few weeks in the same space. It also made it easier when it came down to heists or long term jobs; crashing out in the same place instead of driving back and forth over and over again was certainly useful. And it was nice to wake up to the familiar sounds of the crew, of family, squabbling and talking and cooking. The guest rooms were technically the original crew's old rooms. Some decorations had been changed around, but they stayed fundamentally the same. Gavin helped Jeremy up and over the short stairs to the landing and then down the hall to his old room, humming under his breath as Jeremy nosed at his neck, over and over, smiling and humming in response.   


“Fuck, Trev, I think you’re concussed dude,”    
  
“I’m fine, Michael, really,”    
  
Came from behind them and Gavin turned a little to see Trevor teetering even in Michael’s tight hold, the brunette scowling and shaking his head.    
  
“Bull fucking shit, dude. Come on,”    
  
And scooped the other man up into his arms, ignoring his protests and instead carted the slighter man to his own old room like he weighed nothing. Michael gave Gavin and Jeremy a small nod, and Gavin a shit eating grin as he watched Jeremy nose at his neck again, before continuing down the hall. Gavin huffed and shook his head, smiling to himself regardless. It wasn't hard to herd Jeremy into his old room and get him to lay down on the bed. He whined a little about getting the bed dirty, but Gavin just gently hushed him and quickly helped him strip.   


"Bet you're glad that I remembered extra clothes now, aren't you?" Gavin asked as Jeremy struggled to sit upright.

"Yeah, yeah," Jeremy huffed, but he was smiling. He looked more connected to reality. "Can I shower before you give me first degree?"   


"Do you feel like you're gonna pass out on me?"   


Jeremy looked thoughtful, humming. "I can focus on you. And," he held out his hands. His fingers trembled only faintly. "Adrenaline is still pumping."   


"Fine, but I'm not leaving the bathroom. I don't want you hitting your head. After, you can tell me what the actual fuck you two were doing,"   


Jeremy chuckled, the sound still a little raspy. "Deal."   


Gavin sighed and waited for Jeremy to stand to hug him, sliding his arms around his waist and squeezing tight, resting his chin on his husband’s head, smiling a little at his husband's giggle.

"Your beard tickles," Jeremy hummed, wrapping his arms around Gavin, resting his chin on his shoulder, his own beard scraping gently against Gavin's neck.

Gavin chuckled and nuzzled close, smiling as he felt the jump and hiccup from his chest as he laughed.   


"Come on, I wanna shower Gav,"   


"Fine," Gavin gave a faux put upon sigh. "But after, you're-"

"Telling you what happened, I know," Jeremy shook his head. "Come on,"   


He looked much more tired, all of a sudden, and Gavin tucked himself against his side and Jeremy easily leaned against him, taking comfort in the quiet between them. Gavin made a soft noise of concern as Jeremy stumble-stepped into the bathroom before he got his feet back and gave Gavin a wane smile.    
  
“I’m good, hon,”    
  
“You really don’t seem it,” Gavin grumbled but let Jeremy go as he shuffled to the large walk in shower and leaned against the counter.    
  
He watched Jeremy as he finally pulled off his boxers and tossed them lazily out to the floor and cranked up the hot water and washed himself off. Gavin watched the grim and soot slowly drain away and Jeremy scrubbed his skin and scalp until his beard was white with suds and his skin was a gentle red from the heat and how hard he’d been scrubbing. Gavin let himself relax and let out a long sigh, feeling the tension drain from his shoulders; Jeremy was alright. It was all he could hope for at the end of the day; as the honey pot and negotiator, he was well known to be the front of the crew. He was everything that their little family needed him to be and more and he did it at the drop of a hat.    
  
“Lil J, I’m going to get you some clothes. Don’t trip and brain yourself, yeah?”    
  
“I’ll be fine, Gav,” Jeremy called over the water, sounding amused.    
  
Gavin just huffed softly in amusement and left Jeremy to finish his shower. He had, for once, remembered instead of Jeremy, to pack more than a few pairs of extra clothes. It wasn’t projected to be a long set up before their next job, but it was still easier than going back and forth from their tucked away townhouse. He pulled out the dresser drawers with their lounge clothes and tugged at his own shirt. It was just a regular t-shirt, and he’d left his leather jacket hanging at the front door, but it was starting to feel claustrophobic. With a soft grunt, he tore it over his head and pulled on Jeremy’s hoodie instead, relaxing as the material swallowed him just enough to feel comfortable. He shucked off his dark jeans and peeled off his socks, replacing them with his favorite sweats before grabbing new clothes and boxers for Jeremy.    
  
He didn’t go back into the bathroom like he wanted, biting down on the need to make sure Jeremy was alright, but instead sat on their plush bed, bouncing up and down gently, eyes glancing over the room. Desk under the window, already full of Jeremy’s make up and neat rows of cleaning supplies for his knives, bookshelf that was really just another part of Geoff’s “wandering library” and already stuffed full of books that Gavin had no doubt Geoff and Jeremy had both read the entire contents of. The closet was full of his own extra work clothes; backup leather jacket, his work boots, and several versions of the same shirt, just with slight differences in color and cut. It amused him, though no one but Trevor and Jeremy understood it, but that was just fine by him. Gavin smiled and flopped backwards on the bed, spreading his arms out wide and closing his eyes and just laid there. He let his senses wander and vaguely catalogue what was going on around him. He could hear Jeremy still showering, moving around and clattering bottles this way and that, but not all at once that would suggest he’d fallen. Further, he could hear Trevor and Michael talking, voices too muffled to make any sense, but he could assume Trevor was attempting to argue with Michael about his concussion, or maybe Michael had Sarah on the phone and they were both trying to get the other man to listen.    
  
There was the smell of fresh bed linen and the familiar smell of Jeremy’s hoodie - wool, leather, blueberries from his body wash and old spice. It was soothing, though faint and Gavin made a soft sound of contentment, letting out a long breath. It had been a long day.   


He hadn’t really had to do much aside from standing in the background and look intimidating while Michael and Fiona had done their thing. New contacts had always underestimated him for his lack of bulk to back up being “The Serval”. However, it wasn’t hard to remind them that looks could be deceiving by shooting a stray hair off the top of their heads like William Tell. These contacts, on the other hand, had taken one look at him and immediately stepped back before Michael could even start making the sale. Gavin was there for insurance, and Fiona was there to do the talking with Michael. The new pair had been skittish, keeping an eye on him almost the entire time and barely paying attention to Michael or Fiona. At first, it had been entertaining; watching them through his gold framed sunglasses, smirking underneath his lower face mask - though the ghoulishly grinning skull was a close enough representation of his own sick amusement.

He’d taken out a butterfly knife and did lazy, neat tricks with it, needing to keep his hands busy or else risk losing his mind as the meeting dragged on. By the end of it, he’d been less amused and more annoyed, snarling low in his throat, sounding almost like his namesake, and he’d taken a little satisfaction in the way their faces had paled. After almost two hours they had finished and gotten their money, but then they had to lose the cops that had recognized their car -- a new cop, likely, looking to hook some big fish and it had taken another hour to lose the stubborn bastard. Gavin groaned at the memory, pressing his palms into his eyes, scrubbing.   


"You alive there, Gav?"   


He lifted a hand and opened his eyes, then paused. Jeremy stood at the foot of the bed, sweats dipping slightly on his hips, water dripping down his shoulders. Gavin just hummed and sat up, holding out his arms. Jeremy pulled his shirt on as he shuffled over to the slighter man, standing between his legs as Gavin buried his face in his stomach, arms wrapped tight around his waist.   


"You good?" Jeremy's voice rumbled against his cheek, hands burying in his hair.   


"Just tired, love. Lay down with me?"   


Jeremy stepped back and Gavin immediately pulled his legs up and wriggled back further on the bed. Jeremy barely waited for him to move before laying down and Gavin tangled their legs together, resting his head in the space between Jeremy's shoulder and neck. Jeremy turned and made a soft noise, coaxing him to look at him.   


"You know I love you, right?"   


Gavin couldn't help the fluttering of his heart or the dopey smile. It happened every time. Jeremy was smiling back at him, intense brown eyes soft and warm.   


"I love you too, love,"   


"I know," Jeremy murmured, leaning in and kissing him gently. "Just like saying it,"   


The words buzzed against his lips and he giggled, leaning in for another. It was chaste, lazy and sweet, no rush or worry. There was nothing to worry about in their little bubble, nothing that could shatter it. Finally, Gavin pulled away and gave Jeremy a look.   


"You know that you're still gonna have to tell me what happened with you and Jeremy, right?"   


Jeremy pouted and stole one last kiss before he explained,   


"We got there just fine and things seemed to be going just fine, but they started to get difficult. Pens or Penny or Copper, whatever his fuckin name is, started to accuse Trevor of having cheated them, and I started to smooth that over. Then, things got…"   


"Shooty?"   


"Chaotic. They were annoying. It also wasn't really our fault, since they started it. We were trying to leave before the inevitable shootout started but then they accused me of being a snitch and a few other things that don't bear repeating."   


Gavin snarled, sitting upright immediately and tensing. Or, he tried to; Jeremy had expected the reaction and kept his arms wrapped up tight around him so all Gavin managed was a stuttered flail.   


"Love, it's fine. They're dead, and if they're not, they're properly spooked of the King and Doc," Jeremy soothed.

Gavin just gave a wordless growl, softening only as Jeremy rubbed at the back of his head, scratching gently. He tightened his hold and grumbled into Jeremy 's neck.

"It's fine, Gav. The worse that happened is an explosion and some terrible people are gone, which is no big loss on anyone's part," he soothed. "Trev and I hit the deck despite being a safe distance cause the cops were coming, he hit his head, we got back to the car and drove away. He did kick off his shoes while we drove back for some reason, but I think that's the concussion more than anything,"   


"And he was yelling because-?"   


Jeremy looked a little sheepish. "We may have tossed more than one grenade and one of them made a nearby gas tank blow,"   


"Jesus effin’ christ, my husband is an idiot,"   


"You love me,"   


Gavin sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I do."   


Jeremy kissed him again, sweet and slow, before pulling back to yawn, blinking hard. Gavin laughed, squeaking, poking Jeremy's cheek gently as his husband blinked at him.

"You need a kip, lovely Jer,"   


"But," he cut himself off with another yawn.   


Gavin laughed again, cooing over his sleepy looking husband.

"Sleep, love, I can wake you up for dinner and if Sarah needs to check you over,"

"Finneee,"   


Gavin rolled his eyes, a fond smile pulling at his lips. He pulled the blanket folded up at the end of their bed and tucked it up around both of them and settled down for a nap. He slept well and deep, despite his normal light sleeping habits. He woke up slowly, blinking away sleep. He could hear Jeremy breathing, and it made him smile for the simple action, and the heavy weight of the man's arm around his back, hand wrapped around his hip made him want to nuzzle in close and go back to sleep. His right arm was wrapped around Jeremy’s stomach, while his left stayed pressed between them, his fingers catching on his shirt as he flexed them. A soft knock made him grunt and he felt Jeremy stir awake as the person on the other side of the door knocked louder.   


"Fuck off-!" Gavin called, yawning.

"Guess you don't want dinner then?" Alfredo called, sounding mildly amused.

"Dinner?" Jeremy mumbled and Gavin giggled.

"Course you pick up on there being food,"   


"I'm hungry!"   


Gavin just rolled his eyes and laughed, but got out of bed anyways and walked to the door. Alfredo stood on the other side, looking a little worn but otherwise fine. He'd changed out of his work clothes into a pair of sweats and a bright pink shirt and an old grey hoodie, his shoulders slouching just a little, and he was smiling like he'd been given a million dollars.

"What's up with you, Fredo?" Gavin asked as he stepped out, Alfredo stepping aside to let him by. "I don't think you've ever been so happy to see me,"   


Alfredo laughed, shoving Gavin a little and making him smile in return.   


"Can a guy not be happy?”    
  
“I mean, it’s you, so I usually assume that’s your default state to be perfectly honest,”    
  
Alfredo snorted and his hundred watt smile dimmed just slightly, but his eyes seemed to shine regardless.    
  
“Just, figured some shit out with Trevor is all,”   


Gavin made a cooing noise, not unlike a morning dove and launched himself at Alfredo, hugging him tight. The other man squawked, startled at the sudden weight, and they reeled for a moment before Alfredo made sure that they didn’t fall over.    
  
“Ohh, I’m so happy for you two!! You’ve been dancing for bloody ages, you have! That’s so perfect, oh my god-!”    
  
“It’s pretty great,” Alfredo agreed before his voice shifted and Gavin could hear the shit eating grin, “What about you and Lil J, hmnn? When are you gonna tell the rest of the crew about y’all?”    
  
Gavin paused and pulled away, his eyebrows shooting upwards. “What about us?”    
  
Alfredo gave him a flat, unimpressed look. “Dude. Are you serious right now? You came out his old room,  _ wearing his hoodie. _ ” his expression softened and he lowered his voice, adding, “You know none of us would judge you two. Tease a bit, yeah, but never judge you,”    
  
Gavin blinked a few times, brow still scrunched up.   


‘ _ What is he-? Wait. WAIT. Does the crew not know? After all-? _ ’   


The thought didn’t even finish itself as Gavin started to giggle, giddy and soft at first that slowly built into a full breathless wheeze, squeaks occasionally escaping as he struggled to find his words. It was a testament to how well Alfredo knew him that he didn’t think Gavin was laughing  _ at him  _ but rather at something else. The bedroom door opened just as Gavin started to calm down and Jeremy shuffled out, blinking in the low light of the hallway and gave Alfredo a sleepy nod. His knee brace was on, as were his fluffiest slippers, and Gavin could assume his compression socks to help his circulation. Seeing his husband sent him into another fit of breathless giggles, though, and Alfredo just gave Jeremy a hopeless look over his head.    
  
“Dude, I think your boyfriend’s broken,”    
  
Jeremy’s squeaking laughter just made tears spring to his eyes. Alfredo just huffed and let Gavin go. He squawked but Jeremy grabbed his shoulder and let him lean against him as he laughed into his husband's shoulder.    
  
“You two are fucking ridiculous,” Alfredo grumbled, though he was smiling. “But I’m glad you’re happy,”   


“Thank you, Fredo,” Jeremy said, rubbing Gavin’s back slowly, helping him calm down. “It means a lot,”    
  
He nodded and gave Gavin a look. “He gonna be okay?”    
  
“I’m fine, I’m fine, swear,” Gavin managed, gasping for air as his giggles calmed.    
  
“How’s Trevor?” Jeremy asked, worried.   


“He’s gonna be okay. Sarah got a good look at him, and he managed to stop yelling,” Alfredo explained. “His eardrums aren’t broken, which is good. He just had a bit of tinnitus, and she said it shouldn’t even last that long. A day or two at most, given he was at the brunt of the explosion but he had earplugs in,”    
  
“He learned from the first few times to always have some on hand,” Gavin agreed with a nod, finally calm. “Is he concussed?”    
  
“Only a little bit. A week of rest, nothing strenuous, and he’ll be okay. He wasn’t nauseous and she said everything else checked out alright,”    
  
“Good,” Jeremy sighed in relief, free hand now wandering to run through Gavin’s bottle blond hair as the other continued to rub his back. “I’m glad he’s okay. I didn’t really have time to check either of us over for more than holes or broken bones before we had to get to the car.”    
  
“Sarah’s still here if you want me to get her,” Alfredo offered. “She may wanna just check you over, just to be sure,”   


“Nah,” Jeremy waved him off, “I’m good. Dinner will fix me up,”    
  
Alfredo shrugged as Gavin frowned.   
  
“I’d prefer it if you let her check you over, Lil J,”    
  
Jeremy heaved a sigh but nodded. “Alright, Gav, for you.”    
  
He grinned and leaned up, pressing a kiss to Jeremy’s temple. “Thank you, love,”    
  
“God  _ damn  _ you two are  _ adorable _ ,” Alfredo cooed. “Come on lover birds, let’s go. Michael made dinner and Jack and Geoff aren’t back yet,”    
  
“Ohhh! Movie night?”    
  
“Fuck yeah,” Jeremy said. “I get to choose this time though, since last time y’all skipped over me,”    
  
Gavin just patted his chest placatingly and pulled away. “Whatever you say, Lil J. You don’t even like movies,”    
  
Jeremy huffed and shook his head but followed the pair down the hall to the kitchen. It was filled with noise and the smell of cooking vegetables, beef and cheese, and the faint smell of toast. Lindsay and Fiona were sitting at the table with Matt, Steffie, and Sarah while Alfredo and Michael worked in a steady team of sauteing vegetables and flipping burgers. Lindsay beamed when she spotted the trio, waving like she hadn’t seen them in weeks instead of a few hours. Jeremy laughed and slid into the seat next to hers, nodding to Fiona as she and Matt were having a conversation about pokemon that he largely tuned out, having no brain power for it at the moment.    
  
“You feeling better?” Sarah asked, leaning forward as Gavin and Alfredo plopped down at the table and joined in the others' conversation, along with Lindsay.    
  
“Yeah,” Jeremy gave her a small, genuine smile. “A lot better. It was largely adrenaline and shock. No ringing or head hitting the ground for me. I’m all good. A nap and a shower was all I needed.”    
  
“You’re still coming down to medical for a check up tomorrow, Dooley,” she said sternly, poking a finger at him. “I mean it.”    
  
“I know, I know,” he chuckled, holding up his hands. “I won’t try and skip this time,”    
  
“Good,” she said brightly. “Cause if you do, I’ll find you and drag you there by your ear.”   


“Of that I have no doubt,” Gavin said suddenly. “I’ll bloody well help you. He’s a stubborn ass sometimes,”    
  
“What’s with the name calling tonight?” He asked, mock affronted.    
  
“Lil J, you’re a stubborn, stubborn man, Lil J,” Gavin said frankly. “You’re literally  _ known for it _ .”    
  
“So says the man who wore glitter in his beard for an entire month because Geoff said you wouldn’t,” he retorted.    
  
“No, that’s spite, not stubbornness. Though you’ve got both in spades when you want to make a point,”    
  
Jeremy opened his mouth to refute his husband before he stopped and shrugged. It wasn’t untrue.    
  
“Oi! Assholes! I’m not serving you myself!” Michael called from the stove, clacking his metal spatula against the cast iron frying pan. “Come and get your damn food!”    
  
“Food!” Matt, Fiona and Lindsay said in unison, scrambling from their seats to grab their plates and specific burger.    
  
“Animals,” Alfredo said, shaking his head slowly. “Animals all of you,”    
  
“Awww, you love us Fredo,” Fiona said with a sharp grin, gently hip checking him as she piled up her burger with vegetables. “Thank you, Michael, thank you Fredo,”    
  
Everyone else echoed her thanks as they piled up their plates with food before they settled down at the table once more. Jeremy stayed standing, grabbing drinks for everyone; water for himself, Steffie and Alfredo, and then various beers for Fiona, Lindsay, Gavin, Matt, Sarah, Michael, and water for Trevor. He pouted a little at the glass of ice water but didn’t complain as he tucked into the meal. Jeremy noticed how he and Alfredo kept bumping shoulders or shooting each other looks as the conversation flowed around them, laughter bursting out of everyone now and again from one comment or another. When they finished dinner and migrated to the couch, Steffie held Jeremy back for a moment with a soft hand on his shoulder. Jeremy gave Gavin a smile and nodded, silently urging him to join the rest of their family on the massive L sectional couch. Already, he could hear them bickering about what movie or show to watch.    
  
Steffie waited for Gavin to go join the others before she said,    
  
“You remember the thing Trevor and I told you about two days ago?”    
  
“You mean me doing my job?” Jeremy asked after a beat. “Meet up with Giovani, broker the deal, get out?”    
  
“Yeah,” Steffie drew the word out and rubbed her face. “Seems to have shifted. He’s now demanding a more… Intimate setting, I guess?”    
  
Jeremy didn’t so much as blink as he said, “Oh, so you need me to fuck the guy? Am I getting a free meal out of it?”    
  
“You obviously don’t have to- Wait, are you-Are you alright with this?”    
  
“Uhh, yeah?” Jeremy tilted his head to the side, arms crossing loosely at his chest. “Not the first time I’ve had to do that either. He’s what, thirty-five and single? He’s a playboy, he wants bragging rights of having fucked the Monarch, nothing more,” Jeremy gave another shrug. “Literally does nothing but boost my reputation cause I have a  _ great  _ ass, and I don’t even have to sleep with the guy to get what I want, which is the deal in this instance.”    
  
“Jeremy, what the hell man.” Steffie managed after a moment, astonished.    
  
“What? Steffie, my job is literally to be a honeypot. That doesn’t just mean to be a negotiator. I’m a fully capable adult who can make his own decisions. I know what I’m doing. If I decide I’m not comfortable, we’ll figure out another solution, but if he’s pushing  _ now  _ instead of earlier? It means he’s got the idea that he can “win me over” or some shit with a fancy dinner or whatever he’s throwing at me,”    
  
“And you’re certain you’re okay with this,”    
  
“Steffie Fully capable adult. I’m not just a pretty face.” he grinned a little. “I’m fully capable of killing someone should I need to. Now, come on, we’ve got a movie night to settle into,”    


Steffie just nodded and followed after him. The movie night went as well as they always did, with everyone usually throwing commentary around and the thread of the movie being lost. Before too long, everyone was dropping off to bed, Steffie and Sarah stumbling out with quiet mumbles of swinging by later, while Alfredo and Trevor retreated to Trevor’s room with light teasing in their wake. Fiona heaved herself upright and stumbled to bed with a weak wave goodnight. Michael and Linday left after a while and Gavin managed to haul Jeremy up and to bed as Jack and Geoff crept inside, giving them soft smiles and yawns.   


The following days should have been fairly relaxed. Things were supposed to have been progressing nicely for their museum heist, and with Trevor laid out on bedrest, Alfredo and Michael were decent at computers that the heist wasn’t in danger of being pushed back any further than a few days from the original date. But true to form, that was not the way of things. Luck was very rarely completely on their side, and if it didn’t run out in a heist, it ran out in a set up. It started when Jeremy called Gavin only for the call to disconnect just as Gavin picked up. It started when Geoff and Gavin drove at a breakneck pace, following the coordinates to the last time Jeremy’s phone had given off a  _ png _ on Trevor’s tracking system. None of them had been happier than in that split second of the demolition man’s affinity for hacking and insistence on putting a systematic tracker in all of their electronic devices. It started with Gavin finding a scribbled message on a cocktail napkin in the mouth of an alleyway, Jeremy’s phone shattered on the ground, and bright red lipstick stain at the corner with the message reading,    
  
_ He’s mine now. Come find him, declawed kitten. <3   
_

It started with Gavin falling to his knees, bellowing with animalistic rage and ended with Geoff hauling him up and into the car to sit down. It was a little awkward, Gavin’s long limbs splayed this way and that, and Geoff half crouching to stay eye level with the younger man, eyes searching.    
  
“Gavin, I need you to listen to me, buddy. Can you do that?”    
  
It took him a moment to respond, shaking with a heady mixture of rage and fear and no small amount of adrenaline. He was itching to get out, push Geoff aside and sprint down the streets like a mad man, pulling himself apart at the seams to find his husband. He gave a slow nod when Geoff made a soft noise of concern, the older man’s face pinched up with worry and bubbling anger - not at him, Gavin knew, but at the situation.    
  
“We’re going to find him, okay bud? We’re gonna find him and we’ll get him home. I swear we will. Do you know who could have grabbed him?”    
  
“L-Lady of the Mist,” he managed, struggling to tamp down his need to scream.    
  
“Okay. Who’s she and why does she have a name like a shitty DnD boss?”    
  
He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “Ol-Old contractor. Liked Jeremy’s methods, liked mine. Never liked  _ us _ . Sh-She’s impossible to fucking find though, whe-when she doesn’t want to be. Like mist, get it? W-We called her that, never knew her real name,”    
  
Geoff hummed and gave a nob, reaching out to squeeze his knee. Gavin barely held himself back from kicking him in the chest, itching to go running through the street, tearing up the asphalt to find his husband, but he knew that’s what Mist wanted, wanted him to separate from his family and let himself be plucked, like pruning a flower.   


“We’ll track this bitch down,” Geoff swore, grey-blue eyes like wells of ice. “We’ll find her and get Jeremy back and then we’ll make sure she remembers to never fuck with the the Fake AH Crew,”    
  
He could only give another mute nod, half afraid if he were to try and speak that he’d just end up screaming again. A few splatters of rain hit his hair and he blinked, looking up. The beautiful day had grown overcast, he wasn’t sure when, but the thick roiling clouds felt like omen. He made a pathetic, angry noise and pulled himself into the car, tucking himself into the seat and staring out the windshield. Geoff looked like he wanted to continue the conversation before he stopped himself and got back in the driver's seat.    
  
That had been three days ago and the entire crew, and no small amount of their contacts, had been pulled into the search. The rain hadn’t let up the entire time, making leads harder and harder to follow with any clues at the sight of the abduction washing away, leaving them with nothing but the message, the lipstick and gnawing worry. Alfredo and Michael had been combing through any and all footage around the area but it was difficult; there were no CCTV cameras posted in the alley they’d found the note, so that left them working backwards to the street and trying to spot Jeremy there and at the hotel he should have met the target at for the deal. So far, there had been nothing. Jack called in two favors and threatened several other contacts, a storm that refused to be constrained by the simple rules of “politeness” or “decorum”. Not when one of her family was in danger. Lindsay and Fiona went out with Gavin on his frantic search, desperation making him snap and snarl like a wild creature, but neither woman took it to heart, not when they were equally as angry. Matt had taken the note and sequestered himself in a lab, attempting to find any kind of DNA from the lipstick to try and give them an actual name for Lady Mist. It was a losing battle on that front, but it was appreciated nonetheless. Meg and Kdin had put their own respective contacts on the case, the assassin’s struggling to find any further connections to the woman as B-Team hit the pavement with Geoff and Alfredo. The fourth day found Gavin sitting on the couch at four-thirty in the morning, staring at his phone and flicking through the select few photos he had taken of himself and Jeremy .    
  
They were snapshots of when they’d been happiest. Jeremy slumped over the new table, head on his arms, staring at his beer, one eye shut and a soft smile on his face. It had been shortly after they’d bought their current house, freshly furnished and most things settled where they wanted. Another of him and Jeremy, him dead asleep on his husband’s chest, blanket tucked up around his chin. Jeremy was smiling down at him, expression soft and sleepy, vulnerable. Gavin remembered how Jeremy had meant to take a picture of their new kitten, who had been clumsily pouncing at their legs, Jeremy twitching his feet to make it more of a game for her. He swiped again and paused, staring.    
  
It was a proper portrait of him and Jeremy He’d been wearing a blood stained shorts and a ratty shirt, his now signature leather jacket hanging off one shoulder while Jeremy wore holey jeans and a shirt streaked with soot, blood splattered on his hands and face, but they weren’t paying attention to the camera, instead wrapped up in the other, caught mid kiss as though they’d never have the opportunity again. It had been taken by Jeremy, and Gavin could almost hear the other man’s gentle laughter as he’d kissed Jeremy breathless, hands clutching at his shoulders and Jeremy’s had pulled at his hips. Jeremy was brunette, still had hair, in the photo, hair so much shorter and they both looked so much younger but that was second to the elation that had bubbled in his chest from that moment. Jeremy had said yes to marrying him, not that they’d had a big ceremony -- paying off a judge and making sure their real names were buried deep in the system if not redacted.    
  
The next made a choked noise bubble out of his chest. A crown sat crookedly on Jeremy’s head, a paper one that Gavin had found for him in a Christmas cracker, but he wore it like it was made of precious metal. His head was tilted regally, smirk playing at his lips. He looked like a king even in an ugly Christmas sweater; a horribly bright shade of green with  _ Meowry Kitmas  _ in white and a black and grey cat poking out of a stocking. Gavin himself was sitting next to him, holding tight to his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles, wearing his own ugly Christmas sweater -- a brilliant shade of red with  _ Merry Fuck Off  _ in white and two reindeer antlers on either side. The photo had also been taken by Jeremy, the other man having organized a small Christmas get together for them last year before they went to the crew celebration.    
  
“Gavin-?”    
  
His head snapped up when he heard Jack’s voice, blinking away tears. She was standing in the hallway, dressed in old baggy pajama pants and one of Geoff’s hoodies, hair knotted and snarled in a messy halo. He gave a shaky smile.    
  
“Hey,” he rasped, wincing at the sound of his voice.    
  
“What’re you doing up?” she quietly walked over to the couch, perching a few inches away, giving him some space.    
  
He appreciated it, unsure if he could stand to be touched at the moment.   
  
“Couldn’t sleep.” he said after a moment, staring back down at his phone, double tapping the screen, uncaring if Jack saw the intimate photo. “There’s a lot left to do,”    
  
“We’re all worried, Gav,” she murmured. “We’ll find him, I promise.”    
  
Gavin just gave a weak laugh, the sound bitter and strained, more of a bastardization of a laugh than anything else. He shook his head, clutching his phone tight as he stared at his husband’s face, caught in a perfect moment. Too perfect.   


‘ _ I can’t ever have nice things, _ ’ came the frantic, decade old thought he’d been so sure he’d tossed out since meeting Jeremy and the crew. ‘ _ I can’t. I lose them, I break them, I can’t have them. They get hurt, I hurt them, I can’t protect them- _ ’   


“Gavin? Gavin, breathe honey,” Jack’s voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts for a moment, but didn’t stop the jittering shakes that started to spread through his body. “Gavin, I need you to listen to me,” her voice shifted from gentle and warm to Leader stern.  
  
He looked at her, shaking ever so faintly. She was staring him down, hazel eyes blazing with emotions he couldn’t decipher at the moment, his own tumbling harshly in his stomach and leaving him feeling like he was choking.   
  
“We are going to find him and then we are going to tear these pieces of shit limb from limb for thinking that they can take our family from us, okay? I _promise you_ we will find him and bring him home. We couldn’t have predicted this,”   
  
This time Gavin couldn’t stop the way his laugh climbed to a hysterical wheeze, likely louder than he should be, given that it was an ungodly hour and everyone else was dead asleep. He couldn’t care, though, beyond the point of caring. Jack watched him, worry and mild apprehension wavering in her gaze and something in him coiled in vicious pleasure, while the rest of him stung with bitter regret.   
  
“You don’t get it,” he snapped, voice rising. “You _don’t fucking get it_!!”   
  
“What don’t I get?” Jack asked, calm in the face of his anger.   
  
A quiet part of him had to commend her for not flinching as he slammed the coffee table with a fist, yelling to the background noise of everyone else waking up,   
  
“I should have, Jack! I should having _fucking known_ that bitch would come back for him! I should have gone with him and slit the bastards throat myself for even thinking to hurt J but I didn’t because I listened to you and every fucking body else, for once!”   
  
“What could you have done, Gavin?!” Jack finally yelled back. “You would have been taken too and then where would we be?!”  
  
“At least I would have been with him!”   
  
“What the fuck is going on?!” Geoff snapped, stumbling into the room, a heavy book in hand and scrubbing his eyes with the other.   
  
Behind him, Gavin could just barely see Fiona and Lindsay, and further, Michael, Trevor, Matt and Alfredo. He wasn’t paying too much attention though, as he turned back to Jack and finally yelled,   
  
“I would have been able to help him, Jack! That’s the fucking point! We would have been back by now! God knows what’s happened to him-!!”   
  
“Gavin,” Trevor started, pushing past Geoff, who made a squawking noise that sounded like,   
  
“Hey-!!”   


“Gavin, we’re busting our asses to find him! We all want to find Jeremy and make sure he gets back here-!” Jack started before the sound of a phone going off startled all of them to silence.    
  
Jack pulled her phone out of her pocket, staring down at it for a second that seemed to last an eon before hitting  _ accept  _ and putting the phone on speaker. Before she could speak, however, a disturbingly familiar voice said,    
  
_ Ahh, I was wondering when we’d get a chance to talk. Four days is quite some time, you know.  _ _   
_ _   
_ “Who are you.” Jack’s voice was like steel, her shoulders straightening out and her lips twisting into a vicious snarl.    
  
The rest of the crew crowded into the room, Trevor and Michael immediately going to stand beside Gavin, giving him silent support, both of them growling. Fiona was cracking her knuckles while Alfredo rolled his neck, his hands wrapped up in his nightly compression gloves. Lindsay was glaring at the phone, face pinched in anger while Geoff gave Matt a look and the other man nodded, pulling out his own phone to try and work whatever magic he could.    
  
_ Oh? Did your declawed cat not tell you who I was? Shame, I would have loved to know I struck fear-   
_

“Get to the point, you fucking  _ bitch _ ,” Gavin scowled, venom oozing in his voice.    
  
_ Oh, you take all the fun out of it, _ her tone shifted from simpering to exasperated, her rich voice burring at the end of her words but it felt strained, like an affected accent.  _ Fine. You want your King back? You have to give me your bitch bishop or your cowardly knight.  _ _   
_

Trevor stiffened next to Gavin, his fist curling as he hissed, “Call me a coward or Lindsay a bitch again, you hag, see what I do,”    
_   
_ Jack snarled, her face contorting in her rage, voice dripping malice. She didn’t care about presenting a calm facade, never had when it came to threats against her own. “We’re not making a trade for more people! Give us back our King, you hag!”    
  
_ Oh?   
_

Gavin’s stomach plummeted at Lady Mist’s sudden cold tone.    
  
_ Well if you don’t want to trade in your people for your arguably best piece, I can always take what I want from him and give him back to you for a price. _

“What’s your price,” Michael grunted, stepping forward to be heard as Jack breathed out harshly through her nose.    
  
_ You pay his weight in gold and you can get him back. Pay for his worth in gold, and I’ll even keep him intact instead of taking his eyes. They are so very pretty. And I need a new one. What’ll you do for him, Serval, I have to wonder- _ _   
_

“That’s my husband,  _ you bitch-!! _ ” Gavin shrieked, feeling the acid curl in his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?!”   


_ An eye for a fucking eye, Serval,  _ she spat.  _ You took something of mine, I take something of yours. Pay up in a day or lose him.   
_

And she hung up.    
  
“What the fuck!?” Michael yelled, not noticing Gavin’s flinch at the volume. “You two are married?!”    
  
“Gavin, why didn’t you tell us anything-!” Geoff started, throwing his hands into the air. “We wouldn’t have cared that you two were married!! Fuck-!”    
  
“Fuck, how fast can we get that money together. Trevor, call the Roosters, get some help in pooling our funds and get Jeremy’s last physical from Sarah, and Trevor, I need you to calculate how many jobs he’s done,” Jack said, pulling away and opening her phone’s message app. “Matt, status on that trace?”    
  
“No luck,” he shook his head. “She hung up before I could get a solid location, and I have the feeling even if we’d been able to get it she’d have just moved him. I have,” he paused, tapping at the screen for a moment, “I have a rough idea, like within a five mile radius, so we have  _ something  _ but it’s not a guarantee,”   


“Gavin, what the fuck, dude?!” Fiona snapped. “We’re like, best friends! Also, wait, how the fuck do you know this bitch? What happened?! And you and Jeremy are married!! You should have told us-!”    
  
“Gavin-?” Lindsay didn’t reach out to touch him, her frustration melting away as she realized that the other man was dead silent and shaking. “Gav,”    
  
“You won’t be able to gather the money,” he whispered, voice shattered with rage and sorrow, somehow cutting through all the noise.    
  
“What-?” Jack started.   


“You won’t be able to raise the money,” he said again, hands clenching into tight fists as he began to tremble. “You won’t be able to raise the money unless you somehow manage to break into Fort bloody Knox because that’s what she’s equating him to! That doesn’t bloody matter, either, because she’ll just kill him as soon as she has the money-!” his hands flew to his hair and he immediately started to pace, shouldering past Michael and Jeremy with little effort. “I should have gone with him, I should have been able to  _ protect him  _ and now I can’t and I can’t fucking  _ find him and that bitch has him again-!! _ ”    
  
“Gavin, buddy,” Trevor stopped him with a hand to his chest, glaring at him when Gavin snarled. “No, don’t pull that shit. Look, you trust us, right?”    
  
Gavin gave a shallow nod, chest heaving under Trevor’s hand, his own hands twitching to come up and grab and tear Trevor’s hand away from him.    
  
“Good. Then go with Geoff and Michael, go clear your head. Drive to the coast, take a few people off the hit list, I don’t care, just get out there and calm down. I’ve got this.”    
  
“But,”    
  
“But nothing. We’ll find him. Matt’s got his magic to work, and I may be still a little concussed but I can do some shit too. Right now, you worked up and ready to slit? That’s not going to help us get Jeremy back. I’m just as scared, but you need to think and let us  _ help you _ before we can do anything,”    
  
Gavin’s face, twisted up in a vicious sneer, not unlike that of a rampaging grizzly bear, shuttered and changed. The rage disappeared, leaving behind instead panic and fear. He looked disturbingly delicate, as though the next word could send him scattering across the ground to dust. Gone was the Serval, the terror of Los Santos, the man who had carved a bloody murder canyon through the Underground and left nothing but whispers of a man with golden sunglasses and mask with a ghoulish boney grin painted across it. Instead, in front of them was Gavin, painstakingly human Gavin, filled with fear and anxiety over the unknown possibilities of what could have been happening to his loved one.    
  
“Okay,” he croaked.    
  
“Come on boi,” Michael murmured, shifting from anger to a gentle kindness in a heartbeat. He offered Gavin his hand. “Let’s get outside.”    
  
“I’ll get some keys,” Geoff added, already headed towards the front hall where he kept his bowl of car keys, all labelled various breeds of chicken.   
  
Gavin took Michael’s hand and let him lead him away from the tangled knot of standing bodies and down the hall. Trevor watched him go, biting his lip and rubbing at the back of his neck. Everyone waited for the trio to leave and the sound of the door locking to round on him.    
  
“What the fuck?!” Fiona demanded. “What the fuck just happened?!”    
  
“How long have you known Gavin-?” Lindsay asked next, crowding in.    
  
“What the fuck is going on?!” Alfredo demanded, throwing his hands in the air. “If we’ve got a semblance of a location, we should go after him-!”    
  
“Alright, everyone shut up!” Jack finally yelled, silencing everyone else. When she was sure no one would speak, she turned to Trevor and said, “Well?”    
  
He sighed again and rubbed at his face, grumbling into his palms for a moment.    
  
“Y’all should sit down for this,” he finally said, lowering his hands. “It’s… A long story,”    
  
Lindsay and Fiona shared a look before plopping down on the couch. Alfredo gave him a worried look but did as asked, Matt shuffling over and laying out on the longer part of the L sectional couch, still absorbed in his phone. Jack crossed her arms before sighing, shoulders drooping, and sat in between Fiona and Alfredo, leaning back. Trevor started to pace, gesticulating as he said,    
  
“So, you know how Jeremy and I seemingly came into the crew together, a bit after Gavin?”    
  
“Yeah,” Jack said slowly. “I hired Gav first, I needed the, well then Golden Merc on my side instead of against me. He and Geoff hit it off and Geoff immediately decided to adopt him despite Gav being twenty-six at the time. He changed his name to the Serval not long after joining us,”    
  
“Yeah, well there’s a reason for that,” Trevor stopped pacing and sat on the edge of the coffee table. “J and I, we were tracking down anyone who knew us from before. We’d met up early, when we were like, twenty-somethings. He was, like, twenty-six, I was twenty-three. I was a brawler in an underground ring for a bit, just to pick up money, but he’d been keeping an eye on me and knew that Matt and I,” he nodded to his best friend, “Had been stealing stuff to make explosives. Experimental stuff, see if we could do anything. He asked if we wanted to help him on a job, and very quickly after that he and I became thick as thieves. He taught me how to throw knives and how to talk my way out of sticky situations, I taught him how to disarm a bomb and how to hack. Matt got him hooked up with guns and tech, and the rest was history. We were inseparable for about a year, year and a half, travelling around the world, building a name within certain circles. That’s where he met Gavin.”    
  
“But, he’s a honey pot,” Fiona started, eyebrows climbing.    
  
Matt snorted in amusement.    
  
“Wait, is he not? Is he like, what, Gavin?” Lindsay asked.    
  
Alfredo stayed silent, realization slowly dawning. Jack already knew and a small smirk curled at her lips as the realization slowly crept on the up on the others. Jeremy snorted softly.    
  
“Do you really think Jeremy, who has a few too many knives, wouldn’t know how to use them? He’s a honey pot, yes, but a  _ literal honey pot _ . He’s an assassin. Trained with some crazy agency right out of college apparently, and then picked up the rest from there. He left after only four years, so he was twenty-five when he started out on his own. That’s how he met Meg; she’s a mercancy-assassin,”    
  
“There’s a difference?”    
  
“Big difference,” Alfredo jumped in. “Merc’s take the highest pay, assassin’s follow through for a bigger pay, single targets. Honey pots you have to guarantee their payment or you’ve got a powerful political enemy who can also slit your throat while you sleep, and merc-assassin’s are like, all of the above but worse cause you can try to out pay them but chances are they’ll just turn around and kill both of you, after ensuring the money is in hand.”    
  
“Right.” Fiona looked dubious.    
  
Lindsay shrugged. “Take your word for it,”    
  
“Right, anyways,” Trevor took the thread back, giving Alfredo a grateful nod. “Gav and Jeremy were given each other as targets, but wound up trapping each other. I don’t exactly know what happened, but next thing I know, we’ve got Gavin tagging along as we try to high tail it out of England. Lady Mist, the woman who just called, we learned at least, is American, from Massachusetts I’m pretty sure, but she affects a really shitty accent to try and mask it. But, point is, Gavin took a job from her in the past, but she wanted Jeremy, thinking  _ he  _ was the Serval and  _ Gav  _ was the King, or the Monarch as they called him over there. So, after some really fucked up mind games, we hightailed it out of there and Jeremy nearly died, which prompted Gavin to propose to him after only knowing him for about a year. But, given that we basically lived hit to hit, and in really small quarters with a lot of adrenaline, and how deadly our lifestyle is, I can’t say I blame him. Gav was twenty-eight, Jeremy was twenty-five. They’d gotten married in front of a judge in Washington state, Matt and I were witnesses.”    
  
“Beautiful ceremony,” Matt said absently from his spot on the couch. “Paid the judge a ton to keep it quiet beforehand. J looked good in his suit, and Gav didn’t even have any blood splatter on him. For once.”    
  
“Yeah,” Trevor smiled a little before it vanished. “Then, shit very quickly went south. Lady Mist had a job for us. We declined it, so she took a hit out on us. Gavin was taken hostage, though he got free and wound up killing the woman who had captured him,”    
  
“And she was the one that bitch was talking about,” Jack said slowly, arms crossing as her brow furrowed. “Why wait almost five years though? Why not enact revenge sooner?”    
  
“Because of Jeremy and I,” Trevor sighed, rubbing his face. “Jeremy told Gavin to go to Los Santos, build a scary reputation and lay low. Matt went with him, and Jeremy and I went after Lady Mist for almost a year. We tore apart her connections and her empire in relatively short order. It helped that she’d been grieving and we took shameless advantage,” his usually warm brown eyes turned steely. “She tried to track Gav, and that’s when you snapped him up, Jack. She backed off. The Fake AH, despite only being three, then four, members had already built a reputation for itself and she was in shambles.”    
  
“So she waited to amass a new empire,” Alfredo muttered, thoughtful. “Smart. Really smart. And the note was probably meant to rile Gavin up.”   
  
“We have an advantage though,” Lindsay pointed out. “Slim, but an advantage. She’d been expecting Gavin to come tearing after her that  _ first day _ , not wait. She’d been expecting old Gav, more chaos and anger and sheer bastard energy. The Gavin who ran people over for being in his way and has, arguably, the highest body count in the city and an entire subsection to his file at LSPD.”    
  
“She wasn’t expecting him to wait to find Jeremy , so he’s likely still fine,” Fiona caught on. “Jeremy is still alive! She’d wanted some cliche, melodramatic bullshit to go down, not a cat and mouse game,”    
  
“And she broke,” Jack jumped to her feet, grinning madly. “Lindsay, Fiona you geniuses, you’re right! Matt, I need you to pull up a map of LS and try to pinpoint where that signal was coming from in the five mile radius. Trevor, you work with him and see if you can narrow anything down. She may have broken first, but that doesn’t mean she’s not serious about killing Jeremy, spectacle or not. I’m going to call Hullum and Burnie back, get them to redirect their people, send them to the locations you give me.”    
  
“I mean, I can make it  _ look  _ like she’s getting the money,” Alfredo said, raising a hand. “Like, really ain’t that hard. Fifi, you wanna jump in on this?”    
  
“Oh, definitely.” Fiona stood and cracked her back. “I’m making coffee first though and while that’s brewing we can get started. You get shit set up and I’ll jump in.”    
  
“Always good to have a productive morning,” Lindsay added with a yawn, shaking her head. “Thank god we’ve still got all the Bang,”    
  
Jack hummed. “There’s more in the extra fridge. I’m going to text Geoff, let him know what’s happening, and then I’ll be in my office coordinating with RT, and then we’ll hit the pavement. Matt-”    
  
“Already moving,” he said, standing with shocking grace and started down the hall to his room. “I’ve got a few ideas on where she could be holed up with Lil J, so I’ll get you a list.”    
  
“Good. Lindsay, you’re on coordination with RT. Once Matt and Trevor get their locations, go out and scope with RT. You’re our best racer,”    
  
“Can do, boss,” she said with a two finger salute, grinning wildly despite the stupidly early hour. “Been a little too long since I hit the streets like a circuit,”    
  
“Exactly why I want you out there,” Jack said. “Use whatever weird ass luck you’ve got and cause chaos and get whatever answers you can,”    
  
Lindsay giggled, pulling her bright blue-fading to blonde hair into a tight bun and stood. “Can do, Jack,”    
  
And she practically skipped down the hall towards her and Michael’s room to get on her gear. Trevor just chuckled and shook his head, biting back a yawn. He needed so many energy drinks to deal with the coming hours, but it would be alright. They  _ finally  _ had a lead on Jeremy and that’s what mattered.    
  
Alfredo stood and gave him a quick kiss, making him smile and tug him in for a better one, slow and warm despite the urgency that was burning just under their skin. Finally, Trevor pulled away and let Alfredo go to the kitchen to pour coffee, Fiona already having vacated with her own cup to get her computer. Trevor started to follow Alfredo, intent on getting a Bang when Jack’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.    
  
“Trevor, a word,”    
  
He paused but turned and faced her, crossing his arms lightly in front of his chest out of habit of needing somewhere to put them.    
  
“What’s up?”    
  
“What did Gavin mean, not be able to get the money we needed unless we broke into Fort Knox?”    
  
“Lady Mist, if you hadn’t noticed, has a lot of convoluted ideas and melodramatic tendencies. She’s almost a megalomaniac and throws a tantrum when she doesn’t get her way, as Jeremy and I found out when we were dismantling her empire. But, Gavin wasn’t kidding. She really will kill Jeremy as soon as she thinks she has that money, so we need to find where she is, breach it and then get him out while she’s “counting” what we give her. She knows Jeremy is priceless to Gavin, and visa versa. She won’t accept anything short of a small country's economy, and even then it wouldn’t be enough for her.”    
  
“And the threat about Jeremy’s eyes-?” Jack added, slowly like she didn’t want to actually know.    
  
“Jeremy half blinded her.” Trevor said simply. “And we got the hell out of dodge. If I’m honest, I thought she was dead, because she was quiet for so long. There was nothing from her for all this time, and now she pulls this,” he shook his head, a frustrated noise welling up in the back of his throat. “I don’t know how that woman’s mind works, Jack and I can’t say I wish I did.”    
  
She sighed but nodded and squeezed his arm. “We’ll make sure she stays down this time.”    
  
He gave her a vicious smile in return, nodding. “Right.”    
  
They split off, intent to start their own jobs and bring Jeremy back that much faster. The early morning hours slipped by as they all dove head first into their work, though Gavin, Geoff and Michael hadn’t yet returned, Jack had called in RT and sent them out to scout out the list of locations from Matt and Trevor while Fiona traced through footage as Alfredo created a dummy account with some clever changes to make it appear like over ten million dollars was sitting in it. Jeremy was at the kitchen table, energy drinks littered around his computer, one half empty at his left hand and a faint tremor crawling up his spine now and again as the sun crested on a beautiful morning, painting a sky a bloody crimson, faint swipes of cloud left white, like bandages not yet bled through.    
  
“Trevor, you need to switch to water,” Fiona said, coming in, rubbing her eyes.    
  
“Later,” he grunted, not taking his eyes off the camera’s Fiona had set up to watch the different groups circling the different locations.   


He clicked through to another camera and jolted when Fiona pulled his chair away from the table and spun him around in an impressive feat of strength and put her hands on his shoulders, leaning in until they were almost nose to nose.    
  
“You are going to fucking stop staring at a computer screen and drink some god damn water and then you’re going to eat something not a protein bar and sit your ass down.”    
  
“Fiona, I can’t just-!”    
  
“You can and you will!” she snapped before he could finish. Her voice softened just a little as she continued, “I know you’re worried, Treh, but this won’t help anyone! Jack’s already called Sarah and Steffie, they’ve been prepping the medical bay since they got here. We’ve got confirmation of movement in three different sites, matching the description of the people you and Matt gave us, okay? So, right now, the best thing you can do? Drink some water and call Geoff, or Gavin or Michael, see where they are and make sure Gav hasn’t torn a bloody murder canyon through all of LS.”    
  
“Y-Yeah, okay,” he sighed, rubbing his face as Fiona moved away.    
  
“Good.” she spared a look at his mess and wrinkled her nose. “You better not have gotten that shit on my keys, Collins.”    
  
“I haven’t, I haven’t,” he muttered, waving away her worries.    
  
When she gave a satisfied nod, Trevor stood and cleaned up the mess, tossing the cans into the recycling, wincing as all six clattered into the bin and poured the last into the sink before tossing that in as well. He drank water as Fiona ordered him too and then took the bowl of honey nut cheerios from her with a thankful smile that she met with one of her own before letting her guide him to the couch. They sat in relative silence, which was nice, given how loud the penthouse had been a few hours ago. Fiona made him drink two more large glasses of water before shoving to him to take a shower.   


After, when he was clean and feeling less shaky, though anxiety still gnawed at his insides, he stared at his reflection. Circles had yet to appear under his eyes, but he knew he’d be in no condition to go out and join any of the attack teams. He looked  _ exhausted  _ and he felt it in his bones, like a weight tied around his heart and dragging it through his body to settle in a tangled knot somewhere at his feet. Trevor turned away and pulled on his jeans, hanging up his towel and heading back to his room. He sat down heavily on his bed, rubbing his face as he struggled to remember how to breathe properly when his phone started to vibrate along his side table, nearly falling before he caught it. Mindless, he pressed  _ accept,  _ holding it up to his ear.    
  
_ Hey, Treh,  _ Jeremy’s voice was not what he expected and he nearly dropped the phone. He sounded exhausted, breathless.  _ Can you come pick me up-?  _ _   
_ _   
_ “Wait, wait, Jeremy-!! Are you okay-!? The fuck-!!” Trevor demanded, standing, mind reeling.    
  
_ I mean, beaten up, but breathing. Little bloody,  _ he coughed, the sound ragged.  _ Just, come get me?  _   
  
“Y-Yeah, I’ll-Fuck, I can’t get to you fast enough-- Lindsay! I’ll call Lindsay. Just, hold on buddy,”    
  
_ Sure thing,  _ Jeremy said dryly, though Trevor could hear a faint smile in his best friend’s voice.  _ I’m at the corner of Vine St and McGregor.   
_

“Fuck, okay. Just, hold on buddy,”    
  
_ Hmnm. Thanks, Treh.  _ _   
_ _   
_ “You’re welcome, Lil J. I’m here, just-Just stay awake, okay?”   


He turned the phone to speaker phone, flipped to his messages and quickly texted Lindsay,   


**_Jeremy is out. vine St & mcgregor.   
_ **

He didn’t get a response, other than  _ Read at 8:30 am  _ and let out a long breath.    
  
“Lil J? Buddy?”    
  
_ Hmnn. Still here.  _ _   
_ _   
_ “Okay, I’m gonna text Gav, okay?”    
  
_ Oh, that’s a good idea. Oh! I see Lindsay’s car. Hiii Linds-! _ _   
_ _   
_ There was an audible screech of tires and a breathless chuckle from Jeremy that made Jeremy’s throat tighten in fear once more. There was the sound of a door slamming, then,   


_ JEREMY-!!  _ Lindsay’s relieved yell made the phone crackle.   


_ Heyyy Linds! I’m tired. Like, really tired. And hungry. So fuckin hungry. Can we get drive-through before we go home-?  _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Jeremy, Jesus, you’re covered in blood-!  _ _   
_ _   
_ _ That happens. But, food-? Oh! Trevor, do you want anything?  _ _   
_ _   
_ “I’m good buddy,” he managed a breathless chuckle, shaking his head. Jeremy was not too far gone if he were still able to articulate his want for food.

_ I’ve got him, Trevor,  _ Lindsay said, still clearly worried.  _ Just tell the others.  _   
  
And she hung up. Trevor bit his lip as he hummed, flipping to the group chat and simply texting,    
  
**_Lindsay’s got Jeremy. They’re headed home.  
_ **

Gavin trembled, staring at his phone as he sat on the hood of Geoff’s bright pink Zentorrno. Michael and Geoff watched him, having put their own phones away after checking the message.    
  
“What do you wanna do, Gav?” Michael asked, shuffling his feet as he walked over, gravel shifting underfoot. “Want to go and find out where he was taken or do you wanna go home?”    
  
“We can do both,” Geoff added, idly spinning his keyring on a finger.    
  
Gavin let out a shaking breath and shook his head, carefully putting his phone back in his pocket.    
  
“No. If Trevor said Lindsay has Jeremy, then that means he’s broken out himself and likely slaughtered anyone that stood in his way,”    
  
Michael gave an appreciative hum as Geoff raised an eyebrow. Gavin gave a faint smile and a dark chuckle.    
  
“You do remember when I told you that he was a trained assassin, right?”    
  
“Alright dick, we get it, you’re stupidly in love with your murder husband,” Geoff rolled his eyes, scruffing his hair as he walked around him to get to the driver side. “Now get in,”    
  
Gavin just gave a weak little laugh, though neither man missed how his hand reflexively twitched or the way he bit his lip, sliding into the back of the car. Geoff didn’t snap at him for stretching out across the seats, putting his feet up on the faux leopard print seats, just stared at him in the rearview until he put his seatbelt on with a faintly sheepish smile. Geoff hummed in appreciation and carefully backed out of the little area they’d found as Michael buckled himself in and then tore down the road. Neither Michael or Gavin flinched at the sudden speed, having long gotten used to it, though Gavin did white knuckle his seatbelt, if only to keep himself from snapping at Geoff to drive faster when he could already hear the Zentorrno shifting gears to keep the speed it was going. It was also to keep him from frantically texting the group chat and demanding answers when he knew no matter what it was he’d still worry. It rolled like bile in his stomach and he swallowed harshly, trembling faintly.    
  
Geoff had driven them around the island and then out to the beach, where Gavin had screamed and screamed until he collapsed into Michael’s arms, sobbing and screaming at the unfairness of it. Geoff left to get gas and returned with some firewood and starter, blankets and pillows for them to spread out on the beach by the car and sleep out under the stars. It had taken a bit for Gavin to give into his exhaustion and sleep for a fitful four hours, if it could be called sleep, but they were driving home.   


‘ _ I’ll be there soon, Lil J. Just hold on, baby,’  _ he thought, a vicious seed of anxiety rooting itself in his belly.   


The ride back to the penthouse took less time than Gavin had expected, but that could very easily be due to the fact that he’d been focusing on the sharp twists in the road and keeping himself from drowning in the spiking anxiety. The only thing that interrupted the ride was a text from Jack that read,    
  
**_We’re moving Jeremy to his old room. No serious injuries that need treatment in medical._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Gavin nearly sobbed in relief at reading that. When Geoff finally pulled into the underground garage, Gavin all but vaulted himself out of the back of the car, managing to not tangle himself up in the seatbelt or his legs and sprinted for the elevator, barely waiting for Michael and Geoff to join him. The ride up, none of them tried to speak, Gavin due to his sheer nerves, and Michael and Geoff because they knew that any attempts at conversation with Gavin would be met with stony, worried silence and they themselves had nothing to say to the other. The doors finally opened to the penthouse floor and Gavin tore down the hall, throwing the door open. He ignored the exhausted calls of his name from everyone gathered in the living room, skidding to a stop as Trevor stepped out of Jeremy’s room.    
  
“He’s gonna be okay, Gav,” Trevor managed a smile, stepping aside to let the other man inside. “Sarah’s finishing up with him right now,”    
  
Gavin managed a curt nod and a flash of a smile before he pushed the door open. And froze, staring. Jeremy was dead asleep on the bed, left arm hooked up to an IV while bandages covered his chest and right arm.. Sarah was pulling out an ACE bandage, holding up his left hand when she spotted him and gave him a tired smile.    
  
“Come on in,”    
  
He moved forward robotically before he came to stand at her side, staring down at his sleeping husband. There were faint circles under his eyes, and his skin was pink, like it’d been scrubbed clean. There was a nasty looking bruise blooming on his jaw, sickly in the cream light from the bedside lamp, and he swallowed, trying to force himself to not think on the likely countless marks that marred his husband’s body under those bandages.    
  
“He’s okay, Gav,” Sarah said softly, like she could read his mind. “Steffie got him hooked up on an IV with a bit of a cocktail to help; he hasn’t eaten much the past four days, bare minimum to keep him conscious. He’ll need a round or two of those, plus the IV for the mild dehydration,”    
  
“And everything else-?”   


“Lacerations on his chest and thighs,” Sarah said, voice tightening. “Nothing deep, they wanted him alive, but it was still ugly. He has a mild concussion and a fractured rib, but there’s no danger to his lungs, and his wrist is sprained.” she held out the bandage, giving him a small smile. “You want to wrap this one yourself to give yourself something to do? I think I can trust you to do a good job,”    
  
He just gave a wordless nod and a faint smile at her attempt at humor. Sarah gave it to him, standing and righted her lab coat, then peeled her sterile gloves off and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail.    
  
“You’ll need to wake him up every four hours or so, just for today to make sure he’s still okay, but other than that he’ll be just fine.” she patted his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “We’ll all be outside if you need us, okay?”    
  
He just nodded, giving her a wane smile, sitting. Carefully, slowly, he wrapped Jeremy’s wrist, running his fingers over and over the bandage once he’d finished, feeling tears brim as he leaned down and brushed a kiss to his forehead, shoulders shaking as grief and relief mixed sickeningly in his gut. Jeremy was safe, he was alright, but he wasn’t awake. After a moment, Gavin stood and kicked off his shoes, then crawled into bed and stretched out along Jeremy’s side, putting one hand on the soft cotton bandages and soaking in the gentle warmth and steady, loud beat just under his fingers. He took a minute to carefully arrange himself over top the covers to make sure that he wasn’t pressing against Jeremy’s side, then stretched up, pressing a tear soaked kiss to Jeremy’s cheek before he nestled his head in the crook between Jeremy’s shoulder and neck and fell into a light doze.    
  
He jolted awake later when he felt a weak hand in his hair, playing with the strands and a soft,    
  
“Hey there,”   


As he opened his eyes.    
  
“J-J?”   


Jeremy was sitting most of the way up, smiling down at Gavin like he wasn't wrapped up in bandages or smelled of disinfectant and laundry detergent, like he wasn’t bruised and battered. He scrambled to sit upright, and reached out with trembling hands to cup his husband's face.    
  
“Hey, sweetheart- Oh, baby, come here, don’t cry,”    
  
Gavin wasn’t even aware he’d begun to cry as he let Jeremy draw him in for a kiss, his hands dropping from his face to graze over his neck, over his shoulders, to the bandages on his chest that really wrapped all the way down his torso. Jeremy thumbed away his tears, coaxing him to tilt his head down to press gentle kisses to his forehead, his temple, his nose and his tear slick cheeks.    
  
“Jeremy, oh god, I was so scared when she called,” Gavin managed, voice hoarse with tears. “I didn’t know what to do, I thought-I thought,” his voice died to a strangled whimper as Jeremy pulled him in for a deep, slow kiss.    
  
“I know,” he whispered, lips barely brushing against Gavin’s as he spoke. “Fuck, Gav, I was so scared I’d never see you. She didn’t start into the torture until the second day when she realized you weren’t going to run into her trap and, fuck, I’m so proud of you-”    
  
“ _ You- _ ” Gavin squawked, almost pulling away. “Jeremy, you’re bloody and battered and lord knows what else-!!”    
  
“And I’m alive, baby,” Jeremy soothed, and then hauled Gavin up and over his lap so he was straddling his hips, grunting slightly in pain. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise,”    
  
Gavin sniffled, blinking away more tears as tears sprang to Jeremy’s eyes and he gave a weak laugh. He shifted his weight easily, unwilling to get up but equally unwilling to cause any unneeded pain and pushed himself up so he rested on his knees instead of putting his weight on Jeremy’s thighs.   
  
“God damn it, you ridiculous man,”    
  
“You love me,”    
  
“Yeah,” Gavin leaned in, pressing a tender kiss to his forehead, then gently laced their fingers together, pulling up Jeremy’s hand to kiss at the bandages, like he could cure the pain he was likely in. “Yeah, I do. You’re safe, you’re here,” He lingered longer as Jeremy began to tremble, the events of the last four days finally catching up.   
  
“I’m-m here. I’m here, I’m not gonna leave your side again, love,” he shook harder. “I killed everyone in that shithole. Wasn’t hard when they thought I was unconscious and there were only fifteen of them. I found her last and- She-She won’t come after us again. Fuck, I never thought,” Jeremy stopped, tears finally falling. |  
  
Gavin kissed them away, shifting his hand to stroke at his bandaged wrist. Jeremy gave a hitched sob as he continued to press gentle kisses across his face, Gavin’s other hand resting lightly on his chest as he kneeled over his legs, unwilling to sit despite the faint burn in his own tired legs.   
  
“You’re okay,” Gavin soothed. “You’re safe. She’s dead, you’re here and anyone who wants to even  _ look at  _ you wrong will have to go through the whole rest of our family and then me. I’m never going to let you be hurt like that again, love.” he leaned in, laying gentle, sweet kisses along Jeremy’s brow, down to his cheeks, over his eyes before pulling away to add, “I promised you then, I swore when we were married, and I promise you now, I will never let you fear the unknown or yourself and I will never let you hurt for however much I can help it and if I can’t, I’ll be there to hold you after,”    
  
Jeremy nodded, chest hitching in short, pained breaths as he struggled not to sob, or pull at his rib too much. Gavin moved off of his thighs to kneel beside him and helped Jeremy lay back down and crawled under the covers with him, plastering himself to his husband’s side. Gavin continued to brush away his tears, kissing every inch of his right arm and occasionally shifting to his chest, murmuring,    
  
“I’ve got you now, love, I won’t let you get hurt like this ever again. I love you, so much, you beautiful, brave, brave man. So strong and perfect, got yourself out of trouble and got rid of the problem,”    
  
“Gav,” he whined, reaching to tug at his shirt. “Kiss?”   
  
“I am kissing you, silly sausage,” Gavin teased wetly.    
  


‘ _ When did I start to cry again-?’  _ came the idle thought, though that was pushed out when he looked and saw Jeremy craning his neck to look at him, pouting and blinking.    
  
“Oh, come here, love,” he murmured, leaning forward to press a sweet, chaste kiss to his lips, then another and another and another, each one growing a little deeper, lingering a little longer.    
  
Finally, when they were breathless and smiling more than crying, they slowed, whispering assurances as they held hands and just breathed, brushing their lips together in phantom kisses.    
  
“I told everyone,” Gavin said when their tears had stopped, Jeremy’s head resting on his chest. “They took it well. Or, I told Geoff and Michael. I’m pretty sure Trevor told everyone else.”    
  
“Considering that they haven’t broken down the door,” Jeremy snorted softly, then yawned. “God, I don’t wanna sleep,”    
  
“I need a kip too,” Gavin murmured into his hair, nosing at his temple to lay another kiss there. “We can sleep and tell Sarah or Steffie or whoever comes to check in on us how you’re doing then,”    
  
“Jack and Sarah already came to check on us, while you were-” Jeremy paused, yawning. “Sleeping. Jack said something about a proper wedding, and Sarah told me off for not texting her I was awake sooner. Something like that. She also said she had alarms set and she’d come check on us later,”    
  
“See? We’ll deal with that lot later,” Gavin mumbled, already feeling the drag of sleep. “Sleep now, love,”    
  
“Don’t have to convince me,” JEremy yawned, pressing one more kiss to Gavin’s heart, smiling into his shirt. He smelled like a bonfire and salt and sand. “I love you,”    
  
Gavin felt his heart melt as he looked down at his husband; they’d moved so Jeremy could lay down, half on Gavin’s chest and he could wrap an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders and hold him, his other hand coming up to hold Jeremy’s, their hands resting on his stomach. Jeremy had one eye open, the other shut as he nuzzled into Gavin’s chest, a small, rare smile just for Gavin on his face. He leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to Jeremy ’s forehead, unwilling to move himself or Jeremy to kiss him on the lips.    
  
“I love you too,”    
  
They would talk to their family and answer questions, laughing at their family's antics. Jeremy would explain how he got away, and they both would cry over Jack’s proposal to have a full wedding, a renewal of their vows if they’d prefer to call it that, and a full paid honeymoon, wherever they wanted to go for two months. Later, they would hold each other close as they could and mumble soft, loving words into skin, against lips, against old wounds and swear to protect the other, over and over. But that was later, and right now, all either man knew was that they were safe and their family was close by. And that was enough.    


**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Titles: 
> 
> -Warm, Fragile Heart
> 
> -Always Come Back Home 
> 
> -Have a Gentle Heart and a Knife to Protect it
> 
> -Found Family For the Win!


End file.
